Snap binding-post.



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N; MAYNARD. SNAP BINDING POST,

APPLICATIONTILED MAY 4,1911v 1,275,961.

Patented Aug. 13, 1918.

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NICHOLAS MAYNARD, 0F SAIBETHA, KANSAS.

SNAP BINDING-POST.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, NICHOLAS MAYNARD, a

citizen of the United States, and a resident of Sabetha, in the county of Nemaha and State of Kansas, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Snap Binding-Posts, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to binding posts for connecting wire terminals in electrical apparatus, and the like, and has for an object to provide-a binding post of novel construction for firmly holding a wire and providing a contact surface therewith of relatively large area without the use of binding nuts, screws, and other devices requiring tools for manipulation.

The invention comprises, broadly, a binding post having a pair of separable yieldably engaging parts with a wire-receiving seat between the parts to firmly hold and crimp the wire between the said parts when assembled.

n A further aim of the present invention is to provide a binding post or connector of the character above described which may be applied to practically all electrical apparatus, such as to wireless telegraph and other instruments, spark plugs for internal combustion engines, signal switch boxes, and the like; and a binding post which comprises but relatively few parts, occupies but small space, and which may be e ,onon' ically manufactured.

The above, and various other objects and advantages of this invention will be in part described, and in part understood from the following detailed description of the present preferred embodiment, the same being illusin the accompanying drawing; wherein Figure 1 is a longitudinal section taken centrally through a binding post or connector constructed according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same.

, Fig. 3 is an outer end elevation of one of the separable parts of the device.

Fig. 4 is an end elevation of the opposite separable part of the device.

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section, partly in elevation, of a slightly modified form of the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 13, 1918.

Application filed May 4, 1917. Serial No. 166,460.

device, such as may be used in connection with spark plugs for internal combustion engines.

1 Referring to this drawing, 10 and- 11 designate the closed separably connected members of the binding post, the member or part 10 of which may be relatively fixed and provided with a flat supporting face 12 for seating against the top of an electrical. device in the usual manner of binding posts. A retainer screw 13 of the usual binding post construction may be employed and engaged in the member 10 for holding it firmly to the electrical instrument.

The fixed part or member 10, in the present instance, is disclosed as having a ball or head 14 which may be compressible by the provision of circumferential. slots 15 intersecting at the outermost portion or end of the head 14 to divide the head into a number of spaced-apart resilient sections.

The opposite member or part 11 is preferably formed of insulated relatively hard material, such as vulcanized rubber, and maybe of circular form, with serrations or the like in the peripheral surface thereof to enable a firm grasping of the member 11 in the fingers. The. member 11 is provided with a socket 16 which may be in the form of a tubular portion of metal overturned at its free end to provide a reinforcing bead thereat adapted to snap over the head or ball 14, and which is preferably flared at its opposite ends within a recess or depression in the adjacent side of the part 11. A retaining plate 17 is preferably fitted within the recess or depression in the member 11,

and is crimped to provide an annular seat for the receptlon of the flared lnner edge of the socket 16, the marginalportion of the form to the vertical contour to the opposite sides of the head 14, and to thus provide a shoulder portion at the free end of the socket 16 adapted .to engage beneaththe head 14 when the latter is snapped into the socket. The parts 10 and ll'are thus yieldably and detachably held together, and may be sepa rated by exerting sufiicient pressure upon the member 11 to withdra from over the head 14.

The head 14 is provided with one or more wire-receiving seats 18, the same being preferably formed by the provision of shoulders upon the resilient sections of the head which project partially into the slots between the resilient sections, and which are of less thickness than the material of which the sections are formed. These seats for the wire are thus formed between the adjacent edges of the resilient sections of the head, and the bottoms of the seatsuare formed by the provision of the shoulders.

In use, the section 11 is detached'from the section 10, and the end of the wire A, which has been stripped of its'insulation, is placed over the head 14 in one of the seats 18. The socket 16 is now applied to the head 14 and forced inwardly thereover, the reinforced outer edge of the socket 16 engaging the wire A at opposite sides of the head and bending the wire to the curvature of the head and forcing the wire into its seat 18. The resilient sections of the head tend to force the Wire A outwardly against the inner wall of the socket 16 and thus afford a resilient and firm binding engagement between the head and the wire, and the wire and the socket. .The arts arethus securely and yieldably held In assembled relation, and the wire A is in contact with the fixed member 10 of the binding post throughout a considerable length of the Wire as the latter is curved or rounded to the formation of the head 14 and held in its seat 18 throughout the length of the latter. To detach the wire A, it is only necessary to draw the member 11 upwardly from the member 10, and thus disengage the socket 16 from the head 14. The wire A now may be readily lifted out of its seat 18. As the seats 18 are formed between the intersecting slots of the head or ball 14, the wire A may be introduced into the members of the binding post from various sides thereof, and it is of course understood that the head 14 may be made in any desired number of resilient sections, and the seats 18 be correspondingly increased.

In Fig. 5 of the drawing, there is dis closed a slightly modified form of the detachable member 11, and the securing means for the'permanent part or member 10. In this instance, the permanent member or part 10 is disclosed as seated upon the outer end of a spark plug B, the stem 13 of which is the socket 16 threaded at its upper end for the reception of the fixed member 10 to hold the latter in place. The member 10 is otherwise of sub stantially the same form as shown in Fig. 1,

and the socket 16 is also of substantially the same form disclosed above. The detachable member 11, however, may be provided with a transversely extending passage or way 19 for the reception of the end of a wire C which is stripped of its insulation. detachable member 11 is rovided with a setscrew 20 which preferably passes down into the outer end thereof and binds against the wire C to hold thelatter-against the retain- The ing plate 17. As the retaining plate 17 is in contact with the socket 16, and as the latterbinds over the head 14, it is readily seen that an electrical connection is made between the wire C and the fixed member 10,

and that the surfaces are relatively large so as to form contact surfaces or portions of relatively large area. .It is of course understood that various changes and modifications may be made in the details of construction of the above specifically describedbinding post without departing from the spirit of the invention, and being restricted only by the scope of the following claims. A

.-I claim 1. In a binding post, the combination of a ball part, a socket part adapted to yieldably engage over the ball part, and wire-re ried by one of said members, and having shoulders within the slots thereof adapted to receive and retain the end of a Wire between the sections of the ball member, a socket carried by the opposite member and adapted to engage over said ball and bind the wire against the shoulders and between the sections of the ball member.

1. In a binding post, the combination of a fixed part provided with spaced-apart ball sections, a detachable part provided with a socket adapted to engage over said ball sections, said ball sections being spaced-apart to provide spaces therebetween adapted to receive a wire, and said socket being adapted to engage the wire to bend the same to conform to the curvature of the ballscctions.

5. In a binding post, the combination of a fixed part, a resilient ball head carried upon the fixed part and provided with a wirereceiving seat in its exteriorsurface.

a removable part, and a socket carried on the removable part adapted to bind over the ball part apd to engage the wire to hold the same in sald seat. 5 6. In a binding post, thepombination of a fixed member. provided with a ieldably separable fastener part, a remova 1e member of insulating material provided. with the other part of the separable fastener, mid a wirereceiving seat formed; between the 1!} partsof the separable fastener adapteai w crimp and bind a Wire between the semen NICHOLAS MAYismem 

